Dysfunctional Attitudes and Automatic Thoughts among University Students of Pakistan

Abstract

Existent literature has evident that dysfunctional attitudes and automatic thoughts are associated with mental health difficulties. The present study attempts to investigate the relationship between dysfunctional attitudes and automatic thoughts and examining gender differences across both variables. A sample of 27 male and 53 females were collected from different universities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad, Pakistan. Dysfunctional attitudes of students were measured by the short form of Dysfunctional Attitude Scale (DAS) while automatic thoughts were measured by Automatic thoughts Questionnaire-negative (ATQ). Results indicate that dysfunctional attitudes are not associated with automatic thoughts (p > 0.001), except confusion escape (r = .348, p < 0.001). We found that male university students experience more dysfunctional attitudes and confusion escape subscale of automatic thoughts as compared to female students (p < 0.001). However, there were no gender differences in negative self-concept, personal maladjustment, loneliness, and giving up subscales of automatic thoughts. Result suggests that students should be trained to control these thought negative patterns and resultant psychopathologies.

Traditional Chinese Medicine Body Constitutions and Psychological Determinants of Depression among University Students in Malaysia: A Pilot Study

“…Among the factors measured by DAS, perfectionism [100] was the most detected among the current finding subjects, which is consistent with previous studies conducted among Malaysian tertiary students [98,101]. The higher level of dysfunctional attitudes detected in females could be because females subjects are more sensitive and have greater perfectionist attitudes than males [99,102].…”

“…The presence of dysfunctional attitudes in the current study could be because these students have high expectations towards their academic and social performance, and can become overly critical with themselves when they fail to fulfill such expectations [98]. The academic challenges, concerns for the future, and financial burdens may also contribute to the development of dysfunctional attitudes among subjects [99]. Among the factors measured by DAS, perfectionism [100] was the most detected among the current finding subjects, which is consistent with previous studies conducted among Malaysian tertiary students [98,101].…”

Investigation of the Effect of Dysfunctional Attitudes and Negative Automatic Thoughts on Depression in Adults

“…"Her zaman iyi bir iş yapmazsam insanlar bana saygı duymaz" gibi katı bir inançtır. İşlevsel olmayan tutumlara sahip bireyler, her şeyin kendi kontrolünde olması gerektiğine, ne yaparlarsa yapsınlar sosyalleşmeye, onaylanmaya ihtiyaç duyduklarına ve hayatın her alanında başarılı olmaları gerektiği gibi katı düşünce ve inançlardan oluşmaktadır (Bibi, Khalid, Mehmood ve Shafique, 2020 ;Pesen ve Çelik, 2019). Akbaba Türkoğlu (2013), depresyon da olan kadın hastaların depresyona sahip olmayan kadınlara göre daha fazla işlevsel olmayan tutumlara sahip olduğu belirlenmiştir.…”

The role of social support and dysfunctional attitude to determine the level of mental distress among student in war area: a cross-section survey study

“…A higher prevalence of a range of psychological disorders was found among individuals with dysfunctional attitudes (Beck et al, 1979;Beck & Haigh, 2014). Studies showed a positive correlation between dysfunctional attitudes and mental distress (Bibi, 2020;Kınık & Odacı, 2020). In contrast, social support was found to play a protective role during social crises (Betancourt & Khan, 2008).…”